As is often the case these days, it's much easier to drop a
blog post than it is to make a simple comment
in an "old media" style data space :-(
My use of "old media" implies: a place that still seeks
subscriber data (no OpenID etc..), for the umpteenth time, as the
toll fee for discourse development and participation on the
Web.
Anyway, here is what I attempted to post as a comment to Dan
Grigorovici's post titled: Where is the Semantic Web Killer App?
Dan,
An intriguing post to say the least :-)
"Linked Data" and "Semantic Web" aren't synonymous, they are
simply connected, infrastructure DNA-wise. You can have "Semantic Web" style graphs (i.e RDF Data) and
not have "Linked Data" as per Linked Data deployment tenets and best
practices, a very important point.
I've stated repeatedly, the "Linked Data" emphasis has more to do with
focusing on a point of crystallization within the larger "Semantic Web" vision, so here is a quick
recap:
A term coined by TimBL that describes an application of HTTP
to the time-tested process of "Data
Access by Reference". "Linked Data" adds vital items to the "Data
Access by Reference" pattern that have been erstwhile
unattainable:
- The use of a Data Source Naming scoped to Database / Data
Container Records as opposed to Tables, Views, Stored Procedures,
Databases, and other Record Container tuple collections. Example:
in ODBC / JDBC, a Data Source Name's scope stops at the
Table / View level. In the Linked Data realm you
get an added layer of granularity due to record level name
scope
- Incorporation of HTTP into the Data Source Naming scheme, which
injects the expanse of the Web into the Data Access Range of the
Data Source Name (i.e. a Named Record); so you can reference a
record's description directly via HTTP which is simply a major deal
(to put things mildly).
So we have HTTP based URIs as the Data Sources Names for a
"Linked Data Web" i.e a Web of inter-connected Data Source
Names that de-emphasize the importance of their host containers
(Compound Documents / Information Resources).
The business case or value proposition of "Linked Data" is
synonymous with the value proposition of data access technologies
such as ODBC, JDBC. ADO.NET,
OLE-DB, XMLA, and others (enterprise or consumer) in relation to
the Individual and Enterprise pursuit of agility; in a realm where
data is growing exponentially, and the maximum processing time in a
single day remains 24 hrs. Data Access & Data Integration are
timeless challenges due to the following constants:
- Structured Data Schema Heterogeneity - we will always model the
same things differently
- Dirtiness of Data within Structured Data Containers - we are
error prone due to laziness / sloppiness, time constraints, and the
inherent limitation of our DNA based CPUs when dealing with large
volumes of data.
Note: The line between the Enterprise & Individuals continue
to blur by the second, this is something I covered during my
Linked Data Planet keynote, which is like
most things I put on the Web (via this blog
data space), is a live and practical
demonstration of the virtues of Linked Data courtesy of RDFa,
the Bibliographic Ontology, and dereferencable
URIs (i.e. HTTP based Data Source Names for Documents and the
Entities they host).
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